HOUSE OF GRAPHITE

The Van Dyke was Eberhard Faber's premium graphite drawing pencil, and in 1921 the eraser-tipped 601 version became the firm's first pencil to carry the Blackwing-style adjustable "clamp" ferrule, making it a direct forerunner and cousin of the famous Blackwing 602. It was catalogued in two forms: the eraser-tipped 601, graded by number (No.1 through No.4, plus an intermediate No.2 3/8), and the untipped 600 drawing pencil, graded by letter from soft (4B, 2B, B, HB) to hard (2H, 5H, 6H), in a hexagonal barrel produced chiefly in the USA with later Canadian and German variants. Eberhard Faber retired the Van Dyke name around the mid-20th century, folding it into its Microtomic line, so surviving Van Dyke 600/601 pencils are now vintage collectibles. This specimen: Van Dyke 601 / Van Dyke 600 in grade No.2.

2B 2H 4B 5H 6H B HB No.1 No.2 3/8 No.3 No.4